Having just packed three chests full of provisions—yogurt, granola bars, ham sandwiches, PBJs, shrimp, pasta, water, juice, sodas—Cameron Grant, director of operations at VegasArtists.com, said:
"You know, we probably have way more food than we need here. So I'm thinking after we feed the firefighters, we'll go on ahead and violate the city's code by feeding some homeless people."
It was Sunday. Just before noon. The week before, eight wildfires burned in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, beckoning the manpower of dozens of firefighters and reigniting Grant's penchant for community service. Two weeks ago, when he had by chance ridden his four-wheel drive near the smoke and heat of the summer fires, Grant thought: Those firefighters must be bustin' their asses out there. People don't realize how grueling it is.
And so he called his friends, artists of various genres, and told them of his plans to produce a Sunday potluck lunch for the Clark County firefighters, to recognize their hard work. At that time he thought the food would come as reinforcements. But the last of the Red Rock fires had been contained by Saturday.
Nevertheless, the dozen or so firefighters at the Bureau of Land Management Fire Station at Red Rock greeted Grant and his handful of friends, and their RV full of food, with open arms.
"It was a busy week for us, but we're used to it," said Nathan Moore, a veteran of three years with the department. "Every day is the same for us, and so it is nice to have them bring lunch to us over here."
The artists left the fire station with many leftovers, and so they took their RV to another fire station, and fed more firefighters. Which left them with nothing when Grant and his colleague Bryan Hawley, stopping at a gas station on their way home, came across a homeless man.
"So we bought him a sandwich and a water," says Hawley. "And as soon as he got it, he ran to the park across the street to share it with his friend."